It looks like I'm driving too, if there's anyone along the way that needs a ride (or wants to share accomodations) I am coming from Baltimore and driving to Milwaukee. Email me at pjseckler@aol.com

I actually have certain misgivings about it this year, though. I'm not sure why. The old (Gaming Outpost) community has gotten a little bit fragmented. Maybe thats a good thing. I know it's not going to be like last year because everyone is different, plus lots of new faces, plus the landscape is different (this being the first Gen Con post d20).

I just want to share some of the "how Mearls burned Jared" story because I was in on it..

We ran into Mearls first, and I recognized him from an outdated picture from Gen Con 1999 (he had lost like 60 pounds or something.. but there he was). I also knew what Jared looked like from just a few months earlier, when we had met in Baltimore, and I knew that Jared would be demo-ing Monster Rancher and I knew the general location of the booth because we toured the facility the night before as journalists.

So anyhow, the next day, we arrive full of mischief. Jared was demo-ing Monster Rancher, so we kept checking the booth until he arrived. He wasn't hard to miss. I'm not sure who came up with the actual idea, but anyway, the idea was for Mearls to hide his badge and go up and play Jared at Monster Rancher. Then.. after a while, he'd try and engage Jared in conversation about his "house rules for Rolemaster, the greatest RPG in the world". Nick Lalone and I would stand around nearby.. actually Nick managed to sit right next to him and play the other guy demo-ing Monster Rancher. I sort of hung off to the side at the booth next door in case Jared recognized me.

Anyhow, Mearls had Jared going for what seemed like a long time about Rolemaster. I think he was trying to get him to agree with him about the superiority of Rolemaster.